Calendars have become more than just a way to visualize your weeks and months at a glance. When Calendars went digital, they began to offer numerous features and benefits to serve those who wish to stay organized. Calendar reminders, for example, are one feature — of many — that people use to stay organized and manage their time effectively.
Even if you use reminders, you may not be using them in as many ways as you could. You want to use your Calendar in a way that will make your life easier so you can carve out some time for yourself or your family. Here are six ways you can use calendar reminders to stay more organized.
1. Use Reminders Instead of Writing Things Down
If you don’t write something down that you need to remember, it’s easy to forget about it. You might think you can keep tabs on everything in your head, but something will eventually slip your mind. If you write an important reminder on a notepad or post-it, start creating calendar reminders instead.
Since you use your computer often and have your phones on you pretty much 24/7, they’re both great tools for reminders. When a reminder pops up on either one, it’s safe to assume you’ll see it. Tools like Calendar, Microsoft Calendar, and Google Calendar offer the ability to set reminders. Regardless of your use, setting up reminders for things you don’t want to forget should be easy.
2. Use Reminders to Have a More Organized Home
A well-kept home can make a huge difference in how organized your life feels. A lot goes into keeping your home life organized. It’s about more than just cleaning up messes. Having a clear schedule that outlines housework, remembering to run important errands, and planning meals are also important.
Start setting reminders for housework. Tasks like sweeping, sanitizing surfaces, dusting, vacuuming, cleaning bathrooms, washing sheets, etc. should be done regularly. But like many other tasks in your life, they can be forgotten. Setting recurring reminders will help you stay on top of cleaning and other tasks that need to be done regularly, such as watering the plants.
Staying organized at home also means ensuring your day-to-day life runs smoothly. Use reminders to remember to buy groceries or to restock essential household items. Once you buy groceries, you can even use your online calendar to plan meals. Once you can see your weekly meals at a glance, you can set important related reminders. These could be to take meat out of the freezer to thaw or to marinate something in advance. The features of a calendar all work together to give you the most orderly, organized life possible, so use them!
3. Use Reminders to Remember Big Events
If you have a big trip, work event, or birthday, you don’t want to forget about it. Reminders work perfectly for these types of events. When using online calendars, you can add as many details to a reminder as you want to stay prepared. For example, you can add notes in the reminder about what you’re bringing for the event, any important to-do’s before the day of the event, etc.
You can also choose how far out in advance you’d like to be reminded about an event. It’s up to you to decide whether you’d prefer to be reminded one week, day, or just a few hours prior. But that’s the beauty of online calendar maintenance. You can customize so many things about your calendar to get the most out of using it.
4. Use Reminders for Upcoming Appointments
As you age, routine appointments are something you just have to do. From doctors and dentists to estheticians and nail techs, many people to see and appointments to book. Even though it can be a pain to coordinate and remember all of them, you have just to get it done. Remembering to book appointments at the right time is one thing, but remembering dates for all of them is another.
In addition to health appointments, you might have appointments scheduled for repair or maintenance services. Maybe you’re getting your car serviced or an HVAC technician or plumber visiting your home. Numerous appointments can stack up, and you must remember all of them.
It’s not uncommon for people to write down important appointments in a notebook. However, a digital calendar is much more advantageous. You can reference appointments from anywhere and quickly make changes without making a mess when appointments are in your digital calendar. Plus, when an appointment is just written down, it’s not really a reminder. Your digital calendar can remind you about your appointment at a specified time to ensure you don’t forget it.
5. Use Reminders to Stay Organized at Work
Work is one area of your life where you should absolutely utilize calendar reminders if you’re not already. Calendar reminders before meetings are crucial to avoid no-shows and to ensure everyone is prepared to speak on meeting topics. Reminders can also be helpful when you’re working on a big project and don’t want to miss important deadlines.
Many people use their work calendar as their one source of truth. By doing this, they can see how work life might interfere with or coincide with events in their personal life. But since your calendar can fill up quickly, it’s a good idea to color code your calendar. Choose colors that stand out and assign meaning to each color. Labeling events and organizing and cleaning your calendar will pay off. Excellent organization will result in optimal productivity, a huge reason to have a calendar.
Since staying organized at work is crucial to success, ask your colleagues for tips. They might set up specific reminders or do things a particular way on their calendars that you’d like to mimic. From how they set up reminders to how they set up their inboxes, you can learn a lot from them (and improve your online calendar while you’re at it).
6. Use Reminders to Stay in Shape
As crazy as it might sound, you can even use reminders to stay in shape. It will be up to you to decide whether or not you show up and actually put in the work. But reminders can help you get into a regular workout routine. Reminders can also keep you in line so you never miss a workout. On average, it takes a person 66 days to form a habit. Why not use calendar reminders to create a healthy habit?
Determine the types of exercise routines that you’d like to incorporate into your schedule. Then, using calendar reminders, build your ideal combination of workouts into your schedule. Calendar reminders can be highly beneficial when you’re doing different workouts throughout the week. For example, keeping straight can be difficult if you’re doing cardio-focused workouts, stretching, yoga, and strength training. Calendar reminders will keep you on track, and you’re also likely to see significant improvements in your physique.
If your life feels disorganized and stressful, work on managing your calendar effectively; it can make a difference! And remember, phones and computers are your friends. Staying organized is a breeze when you use the features available on digital calendars. So, start using those calendar reminders. You might be surprised at how much help they can be.
Featured Image Credit: Photo by KATRIN BOLOVTSOVA; Pexels
Howie Jones
My name is Howie and I'm a Customer Success Manager at Calendar. I like to ensure our customers get the best experience using our product. If you have questions email me howie at calendar.com